Obama Must Look for Lessons in the Past
Frank Rich, New York Times | September 28, 2009
Parallels between Obama and JFK continue as both faced difficult decisions about troop numbers in unpopular wars during their first months in office. ++ Although a cliché Vietnam does hold lessons for the conflict in Afghanistan as Gen. McChrystal’s call for more troops echo's the build up in the 1960's . ++ “It’s eerie how closely even these political manoeuvres track those of 50 years ago.” ++ “That Obama has temporarily pressed the pause button to think...is not a sign of indecisiveness but of confidence and...kennedyesque strength.”
Thu, Oct 1st 2009, 06:21
Patrick Edwin Moran, Wake Forest University, Platinum Contributor (201)
The NYT article is thoughtful and well-grounded. Perhaps the struggle to thwart the Taliban was lost years ago due to irresponsible choices made in the U.S. and by parallel unwillingness on the part of others to pay the price for victory while that price was still relatively low.
This article mentions, but does not throw on the balance, other regional entities that will be influenced by events in Afghanistan. Perhaps failure will be unavoidable in Afghanistan, and following such a loss those attempting to disintegrate the central government of Pakistan will find protected staging areas in Afghanistan. Consolidation of extremist governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan would direct more pressure against other area nations that have left undone things necessary to win genuine allegiance from their populations, or ones where wavering allegiances might be swept away.
Maybe no single human being can evaluate all the pertinent factors correctly and deal with them in truly effective ways, and impossible to avoid pessimism about the likelihood that groups of analysts and strategists can jointly put their egos aside and achieve the planning that a single leader cannot.
That being said, it will be important to strategize starting from a global perspective, to plan for Afghanistan on the best available contextual understanding, and to remember that the interest of the USA and its allies is not to conquer Afghanistan but to get it stand up by itself.
Has it already become impossible to turn Pakistan away from a course that will lead it to disintegration and to do the same for other nations threatened by their own political inadequacies such as Saudi Arabia? Change will come in these nations, even if it is change for the worse.
Our largest fault in the past has been to direct inadequate water to a growing fire.